OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:
Hey. Just a note that this new episode was actually recorded in late February. We are all now in our homes, working on new episodes. And our special work-from-home version will be coming to you very soon. Thanks.
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JONATHAN COULTON: From NPR and WNYC, coming to you from The Bell House in beautiful Brooklyn, N.Y., it's NPR's hour of puzzles, word games and trivia, ASK ME ANOTHER. I'm Jonathan Coulton. Now here's your host, Ophira Eisenberg.
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EISENBERG: Hi, everybody. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. We have an amazing show, everybody. We have an amazing show.
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EISENBERG: Our special guest is Larry Owens.
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EISENBERG: Larry Owens was the star of "A Strange Loop," which was a hit off-Broadway musical. By the way, I love the term off-Broadway. I think we should use that naming convention more often for more things. Like, I live off-Manhattan...
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EISENBERG: ...You know, or, I'm an off-Olympic athlete.
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EISENBERG: Matter of fact, I'm an off-millennial. I'm an off-celebrity. Our contestants are on off-"Jeopardy!"
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EISENBERG: And guess what? Technically, you are all at an off-off-off-off-Broadway show right now.
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EISENBERG: So congratulations. Congratulations. Larry Owens has been on a game show before. He wrote on a show called "Paid Off," a game show called "Paid Off." That is where one lucky winner got their college debt paid off. I know. You're excited, right? - 'cause you want that. I defaulted on my college debt payments. That's when you don't make them for a whole bunch of years.
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EISENBERG: Yeah. That was good. Turns out you can't just run away from that. They find you. And so I had to take out a bank loan to pay for it. And it was a huge problem for many, many, years. But I got so used to doing it and so scared of screwing up again that when the last payment - it was, like, I had to pay 300 bucks a month. But then the last payment was only $100. And I was like, they screwed up. And I called up the bank, and I was like, hello, hello, you're screwing up. You're screwing up on my bank loan, OK? Make sure that you do this right. Someone's screwing up your bank. And they're like, no, no, no, you paid it off. And I was like, I'd like to speak to the district manager.
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EISENBERG: Like, I would not let it go. And they're like, no, no, no, you're done. And I was like, I've heard this before. Who else is there?
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EISENBERG: Well, yeah, I paid it off. Were you in debt from college?
COULTON: I was not in debt from college.
EISENBERG: Good for you.
COULTON: Well, my parents were divorced, so there were two different families.
EISENBERG: Oh, to feel guilty.
COULTON: Each paid for half. And they both felt guilty 'cause they'd ruined my life. So it worked out well for me.
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EISENBERG: All right. Let's play some games, everybody.
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EISENBERG: Let's meet our contestants. First up, Eileen Dennehy (ph). You're a prop assistant for TV and film. And you collect items from every television production you've been part of. You've saved a lot of bad ones, and they're in your house.
EILEEN DENNEHY: Yes.
EISENBERG: OK, so what are a couple choice items?
DENNEHY: I have a full, like, prosthetic leg.
EISENBERG: (Laughter) OK. From what? What was that from? What show was that?
DENNEHY: It was from a Bigfoot movie in Georgia.
EISENBERG: Nice. Is it - it's not Bigfoot's leg, though.
DENNEHY: Now. It was, like, the producer's grandfather who passed away.
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EISENBERG: That's not a set dressing. That is, like, someone's effects.
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DENNEHY: It was a low-budget film, so...
EISENBERG: All right. Eileen, when you ring in, we'll hear this.
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EISENBERG: Your opponent is Hillary Malths (ph). You work in fundraising. And you know how to write the perfect email that can raise thousands of dollars.
HILLARY MALTHS: Yes.
EISENBERG: One email can do this.
MALTHS: Yeah.
EISENBERG: OK. What goes into that email?
MALTHS: A lot of buttons and bright text and catchy subject line and the right time.
EISENBERG: What's the right time?
MALTHS: Usually, like, when people are really bored at work. It's - so, like, maybe 2:30, 3 p.m.
EISENBERG: OK. That's the perfect time to ask for money. Wow. Wow.
MALTHS: That's the idea.
EISENBERG: It's good. It's good. Hillary, when you ring in, we'll hear this.
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MALTHS: Eileen and Hillary, whoever has more points after two games will go to the final round. So many countries have a symbolic national animal. We're going to ask you about them in a game we call...
COULTON: (Singing) Where in the world is Camel Salamander?
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EISENBERG: We'll give you a country and some clues. You identify the creature. Malaysia's national animal is the largest cat in the world, putting my Meowzers (ph) to shame. These lone hunters go by the nickname Pak Belang, which roughly translates to Uncle Stripes.
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EISENBERG: Hillary.
MALTHS: Tiger?
EISENBERG: That is correct, yeah.
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EISENBERG: Uncle Stripes - that's also what we call my mother's brother who spent some time in jail.
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COULTON: We get it. Danish people are gorgeous. That's probably why in 1984, they picked their national animal from a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale about a duckling that grew up to be hotter than all the other ducks.
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COULTON: Hillary.
MALTHS: Swan?
COULTON: Swan is correct.
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EISENBERG: This bad boy of the lizard family eats everything from deer to its own species. Ten-foot-long and covered in scales, it has the star power to turn down all offers to live anywhere else on Earth, meaning it can only be found naturally in Indonesia.
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EISENBERG: Hillary.
MALTHS: Is it a Komodo dragon?
EISENBERG: It is a Komodo dragon.
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EISENBERG: You never see any of those cross-species friendship videos with the Komodo dragon, do you? You never see that and, like, a pony...
COULTON: No.
EISENBERG: ...Hanging out, making it through a rainstorm.
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COULTON: What videos have you been watching?
EISENBERG: I don't know. It's like a turtle and a bird or like a pony. You know what I'm talking about?
COULTON: It's just animal buddies?
EISENBERG: Yeah, interspecies animal friendship. These are my favorite videos. I love these. They help each other through hard times.
COULTON: OK. This is your last clue. Lithuania has the highest-known density of this bird species, which means they also have the highest density of babies being whimsically delivered.
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COULTON: Hillary.
MALTHS: The stork.
COULTON: You got it. Correct.
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EISENBERG: Now they're doing Amazon mostly. All right. Great game. And Hillary is in the lead.
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